1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods and devices for use in performing pulmonary procedures and, more particularly, to devices and procedures for treating lung diseases.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pulmonary diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (COPD), reduce the ability of one or both lungs to fully expel air during the exhalation phase of the breathing cycle. The term “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” (COPD) refers to a group of diseases that share a major symptom, dyspnea. Such diseases are accompanied by chronic or recurrent obstruction to air flow within the lung. Because of the increase in environmental pollutants, cigarette smoking, and other noxious exposures, the incidence of COPD has increased dramatically in the last few decades and now ranks as a major cause of activity-restricting or bed-confining disability in the United States. COPD can include such disorders as chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, asthma, and emphysema. While each has distinct anatomic and clinical considerations, many patients may have overlapping characteristics of damage at both the acinar (as seen in emphysema) and the bronchial (as seen in bronchitis) levels.
Emphysema is a condition of the lung characterized by the abnormal permanent enlargement of the airspaces distal to the terminal bronchiole, accompanied by the destruction of their walls, and without obvious fibrosis. It is known that emphysema and other pulmonary diseases reduce the ability of one or both lungs to fully expel air during the exhalation phase of the breathing cycle. One of the effects of such diseases is that the diseased lung tissue is less elastic than healthy lung tissue, which is one factor that prevents full exhalation of air. During breathing, the diseased portion of the lung does not fully recoil due to the diseased (e.g., emphysematic) lung tissue being less elastic than healthy tissue. Consequently, the diseased lung tissue exerts a relatively low driving force, which results in the diseased lung expelling less air volume than a healthy lung.
The problem is further compounded by the diseased, less elastic tissue that surrounds the very narrow airways that lead to the alveoli, which are the air sacs where oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange occurs. The diseased tissue has less tone than healthy tissue and is typically unable to maintain the narrow airways open until the end of the exhalation cycle. This traps air in the lungs and exacerbates the already-inefficient breathing cycle. The trapped air causes the tissue to become hyper-expanded and no longer able to effect efficient oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange.
In addition, hyper-expanded, diseased lung tissue occupies more of the pleural space than healthy lung tissue. In most cases, a portion of the lung is diseased while the remaining part is relatively healthy and, therefore, still able to somewhat efficiently carry out oxygen exchange. By taking up more of the pleural space, the hyper-expanded lung tissue reduces the amount of space available to accommodate the healthy, functioning lung tissue. As a result, the hyper-expanded lung tissue causes inefficient breathing due to its own reduced functionality and because it adversely affects the functionality of adjacent relatively healthier tissue.
Lung reduction surgery is a conventional method of treating emphysema. According to the lung reduction procedure, a diseased portion of the lung is surgically removed, which makes more of the pleural space available to accommodate the functioning, healthy portions of the lung. The lung is typically accessed through a median sternotomy or small lateral thoracotomy. A portion of the lung, typically the periphery of the upper lobe, is freed from the chest wall and then resected, e.g., by a stapler lined with bovine pericardium to reinforce the lung tissue adjacent the cut line and also to prevent air or blood leakage. The chest is then closed and tubes are inserted to remove air and fluid from the pleural cavity. The conventional surgical approach is relatively traumatic and invasive, and, like most surgical procedures, is not a viable option for all patients.
Some recently proposed treatments include the use of devices that isolate a diseased region of the lung in order to reduce the volume of the diseased region, such as by collapsing the diseased lung region. According to such treatments, isolation devices are implanted in airways feeding the targeted region of the lung to regulate fluid flow to the diseased lung region in order to fluidly isolate the region of the lung. These implanted isolation devices can be, for example, one-way valves that allow flow in the exhalation direction only, occluders or plugs that prevent flow in either direction, or two-way valves that control flow in both directions. However, such devices are still in the development stages. Thus, there is much need for improvement in the design and functionality of such isolation devices.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for improved methods and devices for regulating fluid flow to a diseased lung region.